An inevitable meeting of New York luminaries, trumpeter Nate Wooley joins saxophonist Ivo Perelman with frequent sideman Matthew Shipp for an album of complex and sophisticated collective free improvisation, spectacular playing and like-minded conversation of incredible technique and lyrical innuendo; released with the quartet album "Octagon".

"With this recording Ivo Perelman introduces a new member into his circle, the great trumpeter Nate Wooley. The original working title of this album was Alchemy. The revised title Philosopher's Stone refers to the mythic material sought by alchemists of the Middle Ages, who fervently believed that it could turn common metals into silver or gold - and, not incidentally, confer immortality. Here, the materials are anything but common. But the music - thanks to the science of recording, and the magic of these empathetic improvisers - will remain long after the moments in which it first took shape."-Neil Tesser